Paper Bag Inspiration Challenge - Just For You

I'm such a procrastinator! (I know you're smiling, Lainey!)

A LOOOOONNNNNGGGG time ago, I asked a wonderful blogging friend, Lainey over at Made @ Home by Lainey, if it would be OK to send her a picture I took while going through the flower department of one of my local grocery stores. The purpose was to see if she was interested in creating a card inspired by this picture of a paper bag that I thought was absolutely stunning. Don't you agree?

The colours are fabulous, the florals amazing, and as happens most often when I see such lovely items, I immediately start to identify the colours in relation to ink pads I have - or think I have.

In this case, it was "think I have", as I didn't have a strong coral ink pad colour to match this picture, so I ended up borrowing it from a friend.

I knew I wanted to use this stamp set as I wanted it to look similar to the photograph. This is the card I FINALLY came up with:

And just as the card says, Lainey, this card is "Just For You" - thank you for accepting my challenge, thank you for allowing me to postpone our posting date a time or two - or more ;-) - but especially, for being such a wonderful blog friend.

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without my readers popping over to see Lainey's beautiful card, which she posted here today (and seeing this post encouraged me to rush home and complete my card LOL).

A couple of things I did with my card that were inspired by the amazing collection of cards on Lainey's blog: a sponged, stencilled background, and the use of baker's twine.

For the stencilling, I used a heavier hand on opposing corners, using Stampin' Up's Pool Party ink. My stamped floral panel is diecut with Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack 3, and mounted on a Mat Stack 3 Layerz diecut in Stampin' Up's Bermuda Bay cardstock.

What a fun challenge!

Supplies:
Stamps: Altenew Painted Flowers; Altenew Painted Greetings
Dies: PTI Mat Stack 3; PTI Mat Stack 3 Layerz
Ink: Stampin' Up's Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Cameo Coral, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive; Versafine Black
Cardstock: White cardstock; Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay cardstock
Accessories: Coral Baker's Twine; Clear Scraps Chevron Stencil; Adhesive Pop Dots

Ahoy, Matey!

Just a quick post today as this card isn't entered in any current challenge (other than my own to myself to post more LOL).

I got together with my card-making group on Sunday and wanted to add to my stash of birthday cards for little guys. I knew I wanted to work with this sailboat die, so the card basically made itself, with a little help from me! :-)

I've had an old pirate stamp set from when I first began stamping, so I used the sentiment and anchor image from it. Unfortunately, it's not in its original packaging so I can't list the manufacturer. It has some adorable images, but I must admit I'm not too fond of the sentiment I chose (because of the "e" in "Matey"), but it's all I had on hand. From the same set, the inside sentiment says "Be Havin Yourself a Treasure Filled Day" stamped in Night of Navy ink, with a treasure chest image stamped in red below it.

If anybody out there knows this set, drop me a line so I can update my blog post with the correct info.

Have a fantastic day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Unknown Pirate stamp set: Ahoy, Matey
Dies: My Favorite Things Sailboat Die-namics; Wave Dies
Paper: MME 6X6 DP pad; Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Lucky Limeade, Real Red and Marina Mist cardstock; white cardstock
Ink: Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Soft Sky; Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow

Tulip Birthday Card - Inspired by All The Little Things Challenge #7

Hello and thank you for joining me again today!

If you happened to catch my last post, you'll know that I admitted to a bit of an addiction to flowers. OK, maybe more than just a bit ;-)

Today's post is another flower card using a couple of stamp sets that I recently received from Papertrey Ink. I was totally smitten with all the gorgeous cards made by the DT for Tulip Time Stamp Set, so I just had to have it.

One card in particular that I spotted on Pinterest - this card by Diana on her blog, Overnight Waffles - combined this set along with the flowering branches from PTI's Spring Woods set.

I fused the inspiration from that lovely card with this inspiration photo over at Inspired by All The Little Things, Challenge #7 -

and this is the card I put together:

These multi-step stamp images come together so beautifully. The hardest part is choosing what colour combination you want to use on your current design.

I think my next kick at the can will use yellows for the tulip images ... the options are endless & a whole lotta fun!

I've added the clickable link to the Inspired By All The Little Things challenge above, so get your pink on and join in the fun :-)

Supplies:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Tulip Time; Papertrey Ink Spring Woods; Papertrey Ink Graceful Greetings
Inks: Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette, Pale Plum, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip; Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst; Versafine Black
Dies: PTI Tulip Time; PTI Spring Woods; Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies

Spring Fever!

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I have Spring Fever!

Although our winter this year was quite mild, I'm itching to get into my garden to prepare it for the glorious colour and scent of flowers that are coming! One of my favourite plants in my front garden is a Japanese Peony Tree. It produces large, buttery yellow blooms that have a heavenly scent!

I must admit, however, that I love ALL KINDS of flowers! Even the paper kind ;-)

Since I have to wait for the REAL ones, I decided to play in my craft room this weekend to make the next best thing - flower cards! This is one of the many I have worked on:

I originally put these lovely flower clusters together about 3 weeks ago. They've been adorning my craft desk for a while so I figured it was time to finally put them on a card - actually several card designs (yes, I made a LOT of these floral clusters!).

Super sweet "Hello" card to send a friend "just because", don't you agree?

Have yourself a glorious day - and may it be full of sunshine & flowers!

Supplies:
Stamps: Avery Elle Simply Said: Hello
Dies: My Favorite Things Spring Garden Die-namics; WPlus9 Hand Lettered "Hello"; Memory Box Grand Madison Window; Frantic Stamper Diagonal Card Sketcher Dies (stitched tag)
Ink: Frayed Burlap Distressed Ink; Versafine Black
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Crisp Canteloupe, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Old Olive Cardstock; White Cardstock
Accessories: Taylored Expression Brick EF; 1/8" Hole Punch, Twine; Lace Ribbon; Stickles; Dimensional glue dots

Sending Birthday Wishes - The Challenge #64 & Muse Challenge #157

Happy Hump Day!

Hope you're all having a wonderful, crafty week. I've been back from my mini holiday for just over a week now (I say "mini" because I wish it had lasted much, much longer!).

The Island of Nevis was unbelievably beautiful. Blooming tropical trees, plants and flowers everywhere in the most vibrant colours (I was definitely in my glory), and we stayed at the most beautiful villa on the whole island. I will definitely share some of our amazing pictures soon - after I get a chance to edit the hundreds and hundreds of photos taken mostly by my husband. Did I mention that a camera in his hands is a very dangerous thing? It seems like it's permanently stuck in his hand, and he ends up taking pictures not once, not twice, but sometimes 3 times of each view, and some even have the dubious honour of starring his fingers!

Yes, folks, photography skills definitely don't exist in my household :-( But we did get some nice photos to travel down memory lane in the future.

So today's post is a quick card I put together for a couple of challenges:

1) a Colour challenge over at Always Playing With Paper Blog - to use Navy, Blue, Green & Gray (such a lovely colour combo!)

2) and a Sketch Challenge over at Muse that features a wonderful creation by Anita Bowden

My card uses products from several companies, some old, some new:

The flourish is embossed in silver embossing powder (for the gray in the colour challenge), and the "Sending" diecut is cut from Stampin' Up's Night of Navy cardstock, matching the "birthday wishes" stamped sentiment.

I also added some adorable - tiny - iridescent star sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. You can see them more clearly in this close up picture:

Cards like this come together so easily when you have such wonderful inspiration, don't you think?

Thanks for joining me today. Hope to see you again soon.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up Baroque Motifs (flourish); Clearly Besotted Happy Birthday mini stamp
Dies: Simon Says Stamp Script "Sending"
Paper: White Cardstock; Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Lucky Limeade cardstock
Accessories: Silver Embossing Powder; Misti; Pretty Pink Posh Iridescent Mini Star sequins